For decades one of the most incredible tales from the Holocaust has been virtually unknown outside of Poland. The writings of Witold Pilecki, a Polish patriot who volunteered to be imprisoned in Auschwitz, were published in English only a few years ago. His incredible bravery and heroic actions deserve to be better known.
In 1939, Poland was invaded by Nazi Germany and was divided into two: the eastern half was annexed by the Soviet Union and the western half was absorbed into the Nazi Reich. In the east, the USSR managed to quash almost all attempts at Polish resistance, but in the western half a top-secret resistance dubbed the Underground State and Home Army managed to function, resisting Nazi rule. Witold Pilecki was a 38-year-old former Captain in the Polish Army who’d retired, married his wife Maria, and was working as a farmer and raising his two children, Andrzej and Zofia, in an area of Poland that is now in Belarus.
With his homeland in tatters, Pilecki left his family and travelled to Warsaw to help organize a resistance. Facing these Polish fighters, the Nazis decided to set up a concentration camp to house political prisoners of the new regime. They chose the Polish town of Oswiecim, or Auschwitz.
Two of Pilecki’s fellow resistance fighters were among the first prisoners transported from Warsaw to Auschwitz, in August 1940. Telegrams arrived for their families a few days later informing them their loved ones had been killed. The Polish underground desperately wanted to know what had befallen these men. Pilecki volunteered to go to Auschwitz and report back on conditions there. If possible, his mandate included also raising a resistance movement inside the camp and ordering a breakout.
On September 19, 1940, Pilecki deliberately joined a group of men being arrested by Nazis in Warsaw. He was sent to the camp with nearly 2,000 other fighters, and given the number 4859. He would remain a prisoner there for nearly three years.
While many prisoners in Auschwitz reported losing all hope, Pilecki never stopped thinking of himself as a man on a mission. As a political prisoner, he never endured the especially brutal and deadly conditions that were reserved for Jewish prisoners, but he did survive horrible privations too.
“You’re either the greatest hero or the biggest fool.”
On his first day in Auschwitz, Pilecki watched as all the men on a train were shot as soon as they arrived at the camp. He saw one former judge beaten to death before his eyes. Pilecki himself was hit so hard that two of his teeth fell out. Pilecki and his fellow prisoners were shaved, given prison clothes with a red triangle (signifying political prisoners), and told that none of them would ever leave Auschwitz alive. When Pilecki told a fellow prisoner he was there to form a resistance, the prisoner told him, “You’re either the greatest hero or the biggest fool.”
Instead of succumbing to despair, Pilecki got to work. He told the prisoners news of the outside world and wrote a report on the conditions inside Auschwitz, which he managed to smuggle out of the camp and send to the resistance movement in Warsaw. His anguished first report was sent to Poland’s Government in Exile in London in March 1941. They passed it onto the Allies. In his report, Pilecki appealed to the Allies to bomb Auschwitz and end the “monstrous torture” that was taking place there.
The report was forwarded to the highest levels of the British military and might have resulted in action had not Sir Charles Portal, Chief of the British Air Staff, intervened. Sir Charles warned that any raids on Auschwitz “avowedly conducted on account of the Jews would be an asset to enemy propaganda” and declined to act. Pilecki’s torture, and that of this thousands of fellow prisoners in Auschwitz, continued.
Pilecki continued to work, organizing his fellow Polish political prisoners to smuggle in food, plan the occasional escape, and bribe guards to reduce punishments. He organized about 500 prisoners to be part of a top-secret resistance organization inside of Auschwitz, which Pilecki called the Union of Military Organization, known by its Polish initials ZOW.
For a while, ZOW members managed to construct a radio from parts that were smuggled into the camp and reported on conditions to the outside world. They abandoned this attempt when the risk of being caught grew too great. Pilecki survived bouts of typhus and pneumonia, and managed to live on starvation rations. Yet these monstrous cruelties of Auschwitz were set to increase.
When the Nazis broke their non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union in June of 1941, the eventual fighting exposed millions of eastern European Jews to the Nazis’ murderous killing machine. For a few months in 1941, Soviet prisoners of war were the main target of mass killings at Auschwitz; the notorious gas Zyklon B was first used on Soviet prisoners. Ever the conscientious resistance professional, Pilecki meticulously documented the carnage, writing that “The men (Soviet POWs) had been so tightly packed (in gas chambers) that even in death they could not fall over.”
In 1942, the main aim of Auschwitz shifted to the mass killing of Jews. Over one million Jews were systematically murdered in Auschwitz; most were gassed and then their bodies were burned in the camp’s giant crematoria. Pilecki was determined to document the death of these Jews. “Over a thousand a day from the new transports were gassed,” he wrote.
Pilecki also noted the callous indifference to this death and suffering on the part of Polish civilians in the town and countryside nearby. “When marching along the gray roads (on a work detail outside of the camp)...we would encounter young couples out walking, breathing in the beauty of springtime, or women peacefully pushing their children in prams - then the thought uncomfortably bouncing around one’s brain would arise...swirling around, stubbornly seeking some solution to the insoluble question: We are all...people?”
Pilecki hoped that his words might galvanize the Allies to take action and bomb Auschwitz. Each time he waited in vain.
Pilecki managed to write and smuggle out three comprehensive reports detailing life in Auschwitz as it evolved from a camp primarily housing political prisoners into the center of the Nazis’ monstrous killing machine targeting Europe’s Jews. Each time he managed to smuggle out a report at enormous risk, Pilecki hoped that his words might galvanize the Allies to take action and bomb Auschwitz. Each time he waited in vain.
As the years went by, many of Pileckis’ fellow ZOW resistance members were killed. He realized that he could do much more to fight the Nazis outside of Auschwitz and began to plot an escape. His main goal was to speak with Polish resistance fighters and Allied forces in person and persuade them to launch an assault on Auschwitz and stop the killings there. On one occasion, Pilecki gave up his spot as part of an escape plan to another political prisoner who was in greater danger of being killed.
Eventually, in April 1943, Pilecki and two fellow ZOW members managed to escape, prying the bolts off a door and fleeing the camp. Pilecki was shot but managed to travel 100 km on foot until he could reach the home of a fellow resistance member and rest. Pilecki still hoped that the Allies would attack Auschwitz, but as the months went by nothing happened.
Still seeking ways to fight the Nazis, Pilecki travelled to Warsaw to fight in a major uprising against Nazi rule there. Pilecki, an older former officer who’d endured years of brutal imprisonment and torture, became known as “Daddy” among the young resistance fighters who were determined to make a last desperate stand against the Nazi murderers.
In August 1944, Pilecki fought to defend a key street that had been a major thoroughfare inside the now-empty Jewish Ghetto known as Jerusalem Avenue. Today, the street is the site of the Warsaw Uprising Museum. Historian Norman Davies documented Pilecki’s crucial input to the battle at this strategically crucial site: “Almost every day... he captured, lost, and recaptured (an important holdout). Repeatedly driven out, he returned and with deadly cunning repeatedly expelled the German defenders. He lived to fight elsewhere. But so long as he threatened this one vital pressure point, the German command was constantly made to feel insecure.” The spot he defended became known during the fighting as Pilecki’s Redoubt.
After the Warsaw Uprising was brutally put down in September 1944, Pilecki was sent to a POW camp in Germany. Liberated by American troops in April 1945, he travelled to Italy where he fought with Polish troops in the final days of the war. In Italy, he also wrote his final report on what he’d witnessed at Auschwitz. He suspected that he might not have long to live and it was crucially important to him to record all he’d seen for future generations.
Pilecki in court in Poland, 1948.
After the war, Pilecki returned to Warsaw and continued his activities for the Polish underground, this time gathering intelligence on the new Communist government of Poland which he opposed. On May 5, 1947, he was arrested and brutally tortured by the government of Poland. He was given a show trial and condemned to death. He was executed May 25, 1948.
Pilecki’s son Andrzej later recalled his father’s final letters to him and his sister. “He didn’t know he was leaving us forever,” Andrzej explained. “But in letters he would write that we should live worthwhile lives, to respect others and nature. He wrote to my sister to watch out for every little ladybug, to not step on it for a reason. ‘Love nature.’ He instructed us like this in his letters.”
Pilecki’s final report on Auschwitz was translated into English in 2012 and released as The Auschwitz Volunteer: Beyond Bravery. Now a new book The Volunteer: One Man, an Underground Army, and the Secret Mission to Destroy Auschwitz by Jack Fairweather tells Pilecki’s story for a new generation.
Witold Pilecki’s legacy of courage and moral strength deserves to be remembered.
(16) Anonymous, August 2, 2019 7:34 AM
Fantastic information, will read this account
A book I need to read
(15) Anonymous, August 1, 2019 4:44 PM
Amazing Story
I read his book. He says in the book, as the article said, as a political prisoner,
he was treated much better than the Jews. He was treated harshly, but they had better rations than the Jews, they were not specifically targeted for death, like the Jews.. In fact the Nazi's put most of them there ,to rehabilitate them.
He also reminds everyone in his book, that the transports that his fellow political prisoners on, were not immediately sent to the gas chambers, like many Jewish transports passengers were.
(14) E Wilson Leeds UK, August 1, 2019 5:17 AM
Ariel Bombing of the Auschwitz Railway Tracks?
The suggested bombing of the Auschwitz Railway tracks argument, keeps reappearing regularly. Unfortunately it was not possible by any air force then or today because there is no such thing as 'loose bomb' precision bombing from the air of any small target. During WW2 both the USA & UK RAF, considered it was an hit - if a pilot (bomb aimer) could hit a 5 square mile target, and to put this in perspective they would be lucky to hit the town of Oswiecim - Auschwitz never mind the railway tracks, a better and more feasible target was the nearby Oswiecim rail marshalling yards, but within 48 hours any damage done would have been repaired. One should not overlook that throughout Europe and in this case Poland, no so called Resistance Groups ever attempted to blow up any railway tracks leading to and from a camp or ghetto, nor did they ever free groups of Jewish detainees, "your on your own" was the unspoken byword in these circles whose alleged group-bravery was grossly over estimated. The only fires they ever lit was to cook their meals on !
(13) EDNAH WINTER, August 1, 2019 3:29 AM
Que história fascinante de bravura e coragem!! Que sua memória nunca se apague.
(12) Gary Diamond, July 31, 2019 4:12 AM
I hope it's made into a film, his life story is just moving
(11) Chaya, July 31, 2019 2:20 AM
Righteous
I love reading stories about Righteous Gentiles. Mr. Pilecki risked his life every day. Hashem obviously had a plan as He always does. It saddens me that The Allies did nothing to bomb the train tracks to Auschwitz.
(10) Margaret, July 31, 2019 12:40 AM
Pilecki
What an amazing story! How amazing is it, it was the Polish government who tortured and murdered the poor guy? NOT! After all that he survived! Bless him to G-d’s heart and back!
Tobias, August 24, 2019 7:13 PM
"Polish" goverment... communist, soviet controlled puppets.
BTW, the guy that interrogated him, NKVD officer Jozef Rozanski, was born in Jewish family as Josef Goldberg. You can find his grave in Warsaw's Jewish cemetery.
(9) angelo sturino, July 30, 2019 8:16 PM
In the face of courage and many obstacles of freedom
Prayers for this one person, who in the face of courage and the many obstacles of freedom became light in the circle of darkness . shalom
(8) Yvonne Attiehu, July 30, 2019 6:30 PM
Selfless bravery and courage.
Wonderful article. Thank you I would like to say to His family that he was an honorable, brave man true to his mission they can feel very proud to be a part of Mr. Piliecki. Of blessed memory.
(7) Maria Rendon Hughes, July 30, 2019 5:26 PM
Outstanding life and dedication.
Heroes come in many different forms.
(6) E Wilson Leeds UK, July 30, 2019 5:09 PM
This Is Poland Number One WW2 Hero,
My headline summary says it all, but it needs to be said that Janusz Korczak., the Warsaw Jewish orphanage head ranks second. This www extract sums up why: On 5 August 1942, German soldiers came to collect the 192 orphans and about one dozen staff members to transport them to the Treblinka extermination camp. Korczak had been offered sanctuary on the "Aryan side" by the Polish underground organization Żegota, but turned it down, insisting that he would go with the children. The children were dressed in their best clothes. Joshua Perle, an eyewitness described the procession of Korczak and the children through the Ghetto to the deportation point to the death camp: Janusz Korczak was marching holding the hand of a child. A few nurses were followed by approx two hundred children, dressed in clean and meticulously cared for clothes. When the group of orphans finally reached the Umschlagplatz, an SS officer recognized Korczak and offered to help him escape. Whatever the offer, Korczak once again refused. He boarded the trains with the children and was never heard from again. He told the orphans they were going out into the country, so they ought to be cheerful. At last they would be able to exchange the horrible suffocating city walls for meadows of flowers, streams where they could bathe, woods full of berries and mushrooms, and so they came out into the yard, two by two, nicely dressed and in a happy mood. Some time after, there were rumors that the trains had been diverted and that Korczak and the children had survived. There was, however, no basis to these stories. Most likely, Korczak, along all of the children, was killed in a gas chamber upon their arrival at Treblinka. There is a cenotaph for him at the Okopowa Street Jewish Cemetery in Warsaw, with a monumental sculpture of Korczak leading his children to the trains.
(5) Anonymous, July 30, 2019 4:22 PM
Righteous get killed in vain
How ironic to be killed by his own government/Russians and not by the Nazis! He fought for what is right, the Nazis and communism occupying Poland, A great hero! Unfortunately, many righteous get killed in vain, such an unjustive! He will be remember! Thank you Dr Miller for such great information!
(4) Rabbi Pinchas Kantrowitz, July 30, 2019 3:29 PM
Interesting! Well-written! Excellent!
(3) Anonymous, July 30, 2019 3:11 PM
Thank you for this article!
Thank you for this article. Not only is it important that we never forget, it is equally important that we always remember. Remember the valor and sacrifice so many made for us. And the one is just as important -- and makes a difference as much -- as the many.
(2) Daniel Bitran, July 30, 2019 2:22 PM
Hour long lecture on Captain Pilecki
If you are interested in learning more about the life and heroic actions of Captain Witold Pilecki, you should view this hour long lecture, held at the United States Holocaust Memorial and Museum, in 2013: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVj0T5QBirs.
(1) Yanory Zuniga, July 29, 2019 5:19 AM
I am interested in learning more in depth about the TORA. I found some lesson with Rabbi Yonathan Galed.
I would like to know if he is a credible source.
God Bless you and than you,